At a speech this morning at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith urged Congress and the IT Industry to act now to “ensure that the burgeoning era of cloud computing is guided by an international commitment to privacy, security, and transparency for consumers, businesses, and government.”
During his speech Smith also released finding from a Microsoft survey that measured attitudes toward cloud computing. Among the key findings of the survey:
While 58 percent of the general population and 86 percent of senior business leaders are excited about the potential of cloud computing, more than 90 percent of these same people are concerned about the security, access and privacy of their own data in the cloud.
·The majority of all audiences believe the U.S. government should establish laws, rules, and policies for cloud computing.
Cloud computing does pose many new challenges for government and society and Microsoft’s leadership should be applauded. ATL believes that while government intervention in the technology industry must be well thought out to avoid unintended consequences, we must also take steps to make sure that today’s technologies are not hampered by out of date laws.
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